Notre Dame 2009: The Irish say goodbye to Charlie Wies.

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

(Note: With the college football season less than two months away, it's time to start taking a look at the upcoming season. Each week, I'll be breaking down one of the following conferences: The Big XII, the Big East and the WAC. But this week, I'll kick things off by breaking down the upcoming season for the independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish)

The 2008 season was supposed to be the bounce back year for the Irish. It was the year fans went into the season saying, "Well, yeah, 3-9 was really bad, but just watch what happens this season." What happened was an utterly disappointing - and at times downright disgusting - 7-6 season that featured missed opportunities and at times just flat out bad play.

So now 2009 becomes the season of "wait and see" and Charlie Wies had better see some more W's or he's going to be seeing the door.

The Irish do have one thing going for them that they really lacked the past two seasons - experience. On offense, the Irish return all but one starter from last year's squad. Jimmy Clausen, who statistically put up better numbers over the past three years than 2009 NFL draft pick Matt Stafford, will be under center and fans will be hoping that his record-setting performance at the Hawaii Bowl is a sign of things to come. It could well be, considering his two top targets, Michael Floyd and Golden Tate, make up arguably one the best starting wide out combinations in college football. But what made things difficult for Clausen last season was the fact his running backs gained just 3.3 yards per carry and blame can fall both on the runners and that line. However, with Frank Verducci stepping in as the running game coordinator and offensive line coach, the Irish appear ready to commit to the run this season.

Defensively, only six starters return, but probably the biggest (no pun intended) is nose tackle Ian Williams. Notre Dame will look to bring the blitz a lot this season and having the 310-ponder clog up a center and guard in the middle will free up the young, but athletic linebacking corps that Notre Dame is looking to put on the field this year, led by Brian Smith and surely top recruit Manti Te'o by season's end. Hafis Williams will team up with Ian for a 605-pound headache inside. Ethan Johnson, who was tied for first on the team with 3.5 sacks from his tackle spot last season as a true freshman, moves outside and is poised to make a big splash in the pass rush from his end position. The secondary, led by senior strong safety Kyle McCarthy and senior corner Raeshon McNeil, is versatile and experienced. They won't create a ton of turnovers, but they're a hard-hitting bunch that will make a lot of receivers think twice about going over the middle or going up to get that high throw.

On paper, it all looks great, but last season was proof that as good as things may look in theory, it's a much different story when the games are played. So how will this year's Irish fare against the schedule? Let's have a look.

Sept. 5 - Nevada at Notre Dame
Nevada boasts one of the most dynamic offenses in football, ranking fifth in the country last year. The Irish struggled with the run last season as opponents were averaging about 4.1 yards per carry, which makes the Wolf Pack an interesting first test for Notre Dame. However, the Nevada defense gave up an un-Godly 321 yards per game through the air (ranking them dead last in college football behind Central Michigan by about 35 yards) and surrendered 29 touchdowns though the air.
Result: Notre Dame 38, Nevada 24; 1-0

Sept. 12 - Notre Dame at Michigan
Michigan is in year two of its rebuilding process, making them a team similar to Notre Dame last year. The talent is developing and could hurt some people, but is also very susceptible to let-downs. Tate Forcier is expected to be a talented quarterback, but if Notre Dame can put pressure on him, it could make for a long day for the Wolverines' offense. You can't count Michigan out of any game played at The Big House, but Notre Dame appears to have too much firepower for Rich Rodriguez's reclamation project.
Result: Notre Dame 27, Michigan 13; 2-0

Sept. 19: Michigan State at Notre Dame
Notre Dame continues to have issues with the Spartans at home. In fact, the home team has lost in eight of the last nine meetings between these two teams. Michigan State ended that streak last year by beating the Irish at Spartan Stadium. While there's no Javon Ringer to carve up the Notre Dame defense, if the Spartans can control the Notre Dame ground game the way they did a year ago, they will put Jimmy Clausen in a situation he particularly well in so far in his career - putting a team on his back and carrying them to a win.
Result: Michigan State 21, Notre Dame 17; 2-1

Sept. 26 - Notre Dame at Purdue
Purdue had one of the worst rushing defenses in the league last season and are not expected to be much better this year, so this could be the game Armando Allen and company truly have their coming out party. Throw on top of that the fact that last year's third-string quarterback is now the Boilermakers' starter and the picture becomes pretty clear.
Result: Notre Dame 35, Purdue 6; 3-1

Oct. 3 - Washington at Notre Dame
For the second-straight week, the Notre Dame backfield tears up the opposition - this time against last year's third-worst rush defense - and gains more much-needed confidence. Jake Locker will do better than Randy Fouch did last season against the Notre Dame defense, but not nearly well enough to make up for his inept defense.
Result: Notre Dame 42, Washington 16; 4-1

Oct. 17 - Southern California at Notre Dame
For all the talk of Southern Cal quarterback Mark Sanchez at the 2009 NFL draft, it really was the Trojans' defense that made them go last season. This season, they return just three starters from that unit. That said, it still figures to be a more than adequate unit with an outstanding secondary. The running game will test the young USC linebacking corps, but in reality, Jimmy Clausen will have to be perfect in order for the Irish to have a real chance and you can be pretty sure free safety Taylor Mays and the Trojans will make sure he's not. USC continues its dominance over the Irish, winning its eighth straight.
Result: Southern California 35, Notre Dame 14; 4-2

Oct. 24 - Boston College at Notre Dame
Could this be a trap game for Notre Dame? BC figures to be a shadow of its 2008 team, especially on defense with the losses of linemen B.J. Raji and Ron Brace to the NFL draft and possibly returning captain and linebacker John Herzlich to Ewing's sarcoma. Offensively, they were not impressive in 2008 and will be that much worse this season without Dominique Davis under center. Ever think you'd hear that one? The Eagles have been over matched by Notre Dame on paper before and have won, but this is the year the Irish shake off that 800-pound gorilla that's been jumping on their backs since 1993.
Result: Notre Dame 37, Boston College 16; 5-2

Oct. 31 - Notre Dame vs. Washington State (at the Alamodome, San Antonio)
In a game perfectly positioned to prevent a long losing streak if things go bad the two weeks prior, the Irish take on the team that ranked second-to-last in scoring defense, while tying for dead last with Wyoming in scoring offense. Is there really anymore that needs to be said?
Result: Notre Dame 55, Washington State 0; 6-2

Nov. 7 - Navy at Notre Dame
While the Midshipmen are a solid team that figures to be invited to a bowl somewhere, look for the Irish to maintain their dominance in the series. The flexbone offense - which has garnered four straight rushing titles - is one that could provide some problems for Notre Dame if it hasn't had its run-stopping issues sorted out yet, but more of an issue for Notre Dame may be Navy's veteran defense. Still, Notre Dame has too much talent on both sides of the ball and, while it may take a full four quarters to do it, will pull away from the Midshipmen in the end.
Result: Notre Dame 23, Navy 14; 7-2

Nov. 14 - Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
Last year's four-OT game was a beauty, no matter which team you root for. This year, it could be the same. Even without All-American Scott McKillop, Pitt's defense is scary, especially its pass rush. Jimmy Clausen will be hit hard and often, something he hasn't taken well to in his career to date. On the other hand, the Pittsburgh offense is pretty terrible without LeSean McCoy. It will be a case of who makes more mistakes and this one has the makings to be one of Jimmy Clausen's infamous implosions and this one will cost the Irish a shot at a BCS bid.
Result: Pittsburgh 21, Notre Dame 10; 7-3

Nov. 21 - Connecticut at Notre Dame
Zach Frazer, who left Notre Dame for a chance to start at UConn will not find a warm welcome at Notre Dame Stadium. He leads an offense that scored just five touchdowns through the air last year and lost Donald Brown's 18 rushing touchdowns. Defensively, UConn returns most of the unit that gave up just nine touchdowns through the air last season, but they will spend way too much time of the field to be effective for a full four quarters. Notre Dame will be angry after losing to Pitt and will take it out on their next Big East opponent.
Result: Notre Dame 33, Connecticut 3; 8-3

Nov. 29 - Notre Dame at Stanford
Stanford features a veteran smash-mouth power running game that again could challenge a young Irish linebacking unit. But they are purely vanilla. Their passing offense lacks any kind of flash and the Irish probably would be comfortable leaving their corners in one-on-one coverage to load the box. Another team that likes to bring the heat defensively, Stanford could make things interesting for Clausen, though not nearly to the extent a Pitt would and it's very possible Clausen could catch them with some bad matchups downfield.
Result: Notre Dame 27, Stanford 20; 9-3

With a 9-3 record, which will most decidedly not be good enough for an automatic berth to a BCS game, the powers that be will find a way to buy out Charlie Wies, ending his stay in South Bend. While his recruiting classes were considered some of the best in college football in his tenure, he hasn't been able to translate that into winning football games the way you're expected to at Notre Dame.